France's Appeal Court Raises Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.